Ocean City News In Brief

OCEAN CITY — In “the brief” this week, the only thing similar about the reports given by the MML (Maryland Muncipal League) and the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) is that both entities are commonly known by their respective acronyms.

Yet, when representatives from each organization visited city hall to give reports to the Mayor and City Council, one broached the subject of budget cuts and pending legislature, while the other touched on saltwater fishing licenses.

Town Still Pushing For Statewide Helmet Law

Mayor Rick Meehan continued to express his hopes that the state will follow Ocean City’s lead and pass a bill that would require helmets to be worn by scooter riders across the state.

Councilman Jim Hall reported that during a recent breakfast with former Ocean City Mayor and current Delegate Jim Mathias that “Jim says he is on the case for the scooter helmet law, and he is going to be working on a bill for this year.”

Saltwater Anglers Now

Must Get NOAA Permit

The vast majority of saltwater anglers in the state will need to get a permit from NOAA in order to fish for any anadromous species in tidal waters or any fish in federal waters as of Jan. 1, 2010, according to NOAA Recreational Fisheries Coordinator Forbes Darby.

Darby briefed the Mayor and Council on Tuesday outlining a new federal regulation that will require saltwater anglers to register online with NOAA before being allowed to fish in federal waters.

“There will be no cost in 2010, but there will more than likely be a small fee in 2011, but we will not be making a profit on the permits, as the price of the permit will only be to cover administrative costs,” said Darby.

The permits, according to Darby, are more for data compilation, as the list of permitted saltwater anglers will be a “much more efficient way to tabulate information than our current method of randomly calling coastal homes, where maybe only one out of ten have active fisherman in the house.”

Darby called the database a “phonebook of fisherman” and stressed that the process to get the permit with NOAA is immediate via online registration, and a hard-copy permit would be sent after confirmation.

“Basically, it won’t make anyone have to wait to go fishing, because once you register, you’ll get a number to use until the actual permit is mailed to you,” he said.

Featured Stories

BERLIN – A historic South Main Street home suffered significant damage during a fire Tuesday afternoon. Five fire companies responded to 414 S. Main St. shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday as smoke poured from the two story structure. Though the fire was quickly brought under control, the home — known locally as the Harvey P…. Read more »

OCEAN CITY — One month after a plan of action called for eliminating most troublesome motorized special events in Ocean City, a task force, appointed by Mayor Rick Meehan, is set to meet for the first time on Thursday. It was standing room only in mid-November when the Mayor and Council received a presentation to… Read more »

WEST OCEAN CITY – The health of Maryland’s coastal bays remained consistent last year, according to a report card released by the Maryland Coastal Bays Program (MCBP) and its partners this week. In 2016, the coastal bay system received a C-plus in an annual report card that was unveiled at the Ocean City Marlin Club… Read more »

Berlin’s 47th Annual Christmas parade attracted a crowd of several thousand who lined the parade route along Main Street to near capacity Thursday night. A total of 83 groups participated in the parade which was sponsored by the Town of Berlin and Berlin Main Street, in cooperation with the merchants of Berlin. The parade is… Read more »